An' It Harm None
by JoIsBishMyoga
Summary: An attack has left Sakura with mysteries on her hands and in her deck. With the Guardians unable to identify them, much less agree, how is she to figure out what she's done? Sequel to my Yu Yu Hakusho fic, Book of Shadows ON HOLD pending rewrite.
1. A Beginning

Disclaimer: Not mine, not making money, free advertising, so don't sue. Got no money. 

Warnings: Yaoi (that's homosexuality, kiddos), angst, possibly dark stuff (not sure how dark this will go yet). 

Note: Sequel to my Yu Yu Hakusho fic "Book of Shadows". If you haven't read it, you won't understand what's going on here. So head on over and read it! It's short. 

Additional note: This is Card Captor Sakura. NOT Cardcaptors. The names are the original, Japanese names, and the relationships have not been sterilized and edited for Americans. If you don't know what the differences are... well, I'm not sure just how far they went when they butchered the series in the name of Not Offending American Parents. Go find the original series and find out. 

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Ch. 1 - A Beginning 

The vines holding Sakura up vanished, and she fell heavily to the ground. Stunned, she stared up at the sky for a moment, hearing only her breathing and the odd, throbbing hum of magic. 

"Sakura!" 

She blinked. That was Kero-ch... no, Keroberos, the full-grown version. The lion's head filled her vision, eyes crinkled in worry. "Sakura," he repeated. 

"Sakura-chan," Tomoyo murmured, her own face coming into Sakura's view. 

"What...?" Sakura rolled onto her side and sat up, a bit dizzy. Then she raised her head, and her eyes fell on five familiar, flattened, rectangular shapes hovering in mid-air. "Cards...?" But she'd caught them all, hadn't she? 

Keroberos turned his head, following her gaze. The five new Cards gave a last pulse of shimmering light, then faded to the ordinary, pink tones of Sakura Cards. But unlike Cards, they didn't float to her hand. 

A faint rustle of feathers in the wind, and Yue landed on Sakura's other side. "Mistress," he murmured, lifting her from the ground. He settled her upright, leaning on Keroberos and Tomoyo-chan for support, then his eyes fell on the Cards. 

"I thought... I thought I captured them all..." Sakura murmured. 

"You did," Keroberos assured her. 

"Then what are THOSE?" Sakura pointed. 

Yue lifted a hand and beckoned at the five slips of paper. Slowly, they floated towards the little group, lining up at a height where Sakura could see them properly and sound out the romaji lettering. 

The first picture was a fox-man of some sort, long-haired and posed facing front. His hands were cupped near his chest, wrists crossed. One hand contained a green-tinted gem; the other, a yellowing scroll. Even with the blank, sleeping face of an inactive Card, he had a faintly menacing expression. "Se Shiifu," Sakura read aloud. She couldn't remember if she knew that word. "Can somebody translate?" 

Keroberos opened his mouth, but Yue beat him to it. "The Thief," he said, pointing towards the card. Then he must've decided to simply finish the row. 

"The Mask," he said, his finger moving to the next Card. The image here was a face, no expression at all, androgynous and capped with a head of long, red-tinted hair. The body disintegrated into ribbons somewhere near the collarbones. Sakura couldn't tell if the face was supposed to be male or female, or -- most likely -- neither. 

"The Sight." An eye, fitted lengthwise in the space, iris tinted violet. "The Swift." A small, muscular boy or man in profile, his hair wild and black and sticking nearly straight up. A shock of white formed a starlike shape near the front of his head. He held his hands cupped before him, a swirl of blue-black fire in them. 

The last card showed a dragon of the same color fire, coiled to take up most of the space available. Yue paused for an instant before translating this one. 

"The Destroy." 

"How could Clow make Cards like these?!" Keroberos burst out Sakura looked at him, swaying as he nearly pulled out from under her in his yelling. "I mean, Thief and Destroy, those've got 'use me for evil!' stamped all over them!" 

Yue drew himself up -- literally; he tended to hover a centimeter or so in the air, and now was a good two centimeters further from the ground. "They aren't Cards." 

"Sure look like 'em to ME!" 

"Nevertheless--" 

"They are." 

"They are not." 

"Are!" 

"Are n-- I'm not getting into this with you." Yue turned his head away, raising his chin haughtily. 

Sakura turned to focus on the Cards, then tentatively beckoned them. They seemed to hesitate, then slowly floated towards her. They settled in a neat stack in her hand. "Warm..." she murmured. The edges of her vision were going fuzzy, but the Cards themselves weren't. She rubbed a thumb along the side of the top one, The Swift. "So warm..." And dark... was night falling? She hadn't thought it was that late yet... 

"Sakura-chan!" 

"Sakura!" 

"Mistress!" 

An arm curled around her waist, and she knew nothing more. 

TBC 

A/N - 

Sakura doesn't speak English. Her first pronunciation of "The Thief" is supposed to be that way.


	2. Stung

Warnings, disclaimers, blah. 

Ch. 2 - Stung 

Yue's arm shot out, and he caught Sakura around the waist as she crumpled. 

"What's wrong?!" Keroberos shouted. "What--" 

"She's asleep," Yue replied. He turned Sakura to a more comfortable position, half-cradled in one of his arms, then pried the Key from one tiny hand, looping the chain of the necklace back around the girl's neck. He then turned his attention to the new Cards (or whatever they were; 'Cards' would do to describe them until he figured them out). 

"They must be really powerful Cards," Keroberos mused. "Sakura didn't fall asleep even after she converted Light and Dark at once." 

"We were helping her then," Yue countered. 

"Do ya have ta argue EVERYTHING, Yue?" 

"No," Yue replied calmly, knowing this would just infuriate Keroberos more. He glanced upwards at the bright afternoon sky. Hm... this discussion could wait until after Sakura was home, but it was too early to have an angel landing on Touya's doorstep. (Not that any time was the right time for that, but he was much more likely to be seen by a neighbor if the neighbors were awake.) He abruptly draped Sakura onto Tomoyo's shoulder, visibly startling the girl. "I'm going to change back," he said simply 

"Wha-- no! Dammit, Yue!" Kero bellowed, his own wings popping out for the transformation as Yue's closed around him. 

----- 

Yukito found himself standing in darkness, a faintly fading sensation of -- well, sensation -- over his shoulderblades. It took him a second to recognize the feeling. 

He'd been... not-himself again. Yukito had guessed that his other-self possibly had wings of some sort, from this simple half-second of sensitivity on his back. Other than that, though... he had no idea, except that this other-self of his had a rather distressing tendency to leave him in the oddest spots. So, where was he this time? 

He opened his eyes, and saw Sakura's little friend, Tomoyo, barely standing under the weight of an unconscious Sakura. 

"Sakura!" he gasped, reaching out instinctively. "Here, let me..." He lifted Sakura away, several pieces of glossy paper falling from her hand. "What happened?" Yukito asked, as Tomoyo bent to retrieve the cards, and Sakura's plushie lion, from the ground. 

"Well... that is... you see..." 

Yukito took pity and let her off the hook. "Nevermind," he said gently. It occured to him that she might've seen his other-self. That it might be... no, it couldn't be his fault Sakura had passed out, could it? She was terrified of ghosts, and who knew what his other-self looked like? "I'm sorry. I... if I frightened you. I didn't, did I? I'm afraid I can't remember..." 

"No! Oh, no... you didn't, Tsukishiro-san," Tomoyo said quickly, nervously. Too much so... and how could she have avoided seeing the other...? 

Yukito shook his head. It didn't matter. Sakura mattered. He had to get her home. 

It seemed eternally too soon when Yukito and Tomoyo arrived on the Kinomoto's doorstep. Yukito rang the bell, and a minute later the door opened. Touya's eyes widened a flash. 

"Inside," he ordered. They stepped inside, and Touya bent to pull Sakura's shoes off in silence. He took her from Yukito, freeing the shorter boy to take off his own shoes, and carried her upstairs, Tomoyo in his wake. 

It was perhaps the slightest bit rude of Yukito, but he didn't think as he followed them up to Sakura's room and inside. Worried, he watched Touya pull the covers up over his sister, having not bothered to change her out of her street clothes first. Touya then turned to him expectantly. 

A minute passed. 

"Is... is she going to be alright?" Yukito asked, squirming under that stare and not sure as to why. 

Touya sighed. "As far as I can tell," he answered. He then stood, glancing swiftly at Tomoyo. "I'll make tea. Two cups, right?" 

The child blushed. "Er, yes. Please." 

------- 

Downstairs, Touya set the water on for tea, then, carefully not looking at Yukito, asked, "Are you sulking, or scared?" 

Yukito blinked. "I... what? Neither..." He was badly confused, and worried about Sakura, and -- somewhere far in the back of his mind -- a jumble of emotions fought it out over his nonhuman nature and stolen time, but sulking? No. 

"I'm sorry, Yuki, but... not you." 

"Huh? To-ya...?" Oh. OH. He was talking to... the other one. Talking through Yukito, to someone else. A distinctly unpleasant feeling began to win the fight in the back of his mind. 

"I'm not angry," Touya continued, his voice level. Yukito could hear the tight control in it, though. "I just want to know what happened to her, and you obviously aren't sharing with Yuki." 

_Sharing nothing, except the body! _Yukito thought wildly. How was he supposed to answer that? The other hadn't so much as given Yukito a name, or a face, or even a sense of extra-ness in his mind. 

And then, as if that thought had stung the other, Yukito had an answer for Touya. 

"He doesn't know." 

Touya's head snapped around, wide eyes falling on Yukito. "What?" 

"He doesn't know what happened," Yukito repeated. It was crazy, but Yukito could feel the correctness of the answer down to his bones. "He left her with... someone else--"_ Who? _"-- for only a few minutes." None of the rest, what little there was, made any sense. A wave of invisible life, a swooping view of someplace with trees, Sakura swaying into white-clad arms, unconscious... "I think he got back just in time to catch her when she fainted." 

Touya rubbed his face in exasperation. "No wonder he's hiding." 

Yukito could only stare, mouth slightly open and gaze turned inward, as Touya set tea things on a tray. That answer... he'd gotten something from the other. It wasn't much, to make up for all the time he'd taken, for his secret, watching presence in Yukito's soul, but... Yukito could get something from the other. 

He didn't know if he should be terrified or not. 

A hand settled on his shoulder, startling him. "I'm sorry, Yuki," Touya said quietly. "I shouldn't have done that. It's just... it's been three_ days_--" 

"Days?!" Yukito echoed. What about school? What about his grand-- no, wait, he didn't actually have grandparents to worry. 

"-- and then you came back with Sakura unconscious. I'm worried about_ all _of you." 

"I'm sorry," Yukito apologized automatically. Days? Three DAYS? What had he been DOING?! 

"Don't be," Touya responded, also automatic. "I'll find out what happened later." 

"Don't terrorize Daidouji-chan too much," Yukito said. 

"Wasn't planning to ask Daidouji-chan," Touya muttered, as he carried the tea tray from the room. 

TBC 

A/N - 

- eternally too soon. Yes, you read this right.


	3. Resonance

Warnings, disclaimers, Kero's got opinions and he's not afraid to think them...

Sorry for the long wait, but I had two possible plotlines to fit the circumstances I have in mind, and half a dozen ways to go about writing them. That mess has finally been sorted out, though, thanks to summerstarr.

To-ya: a nickname for Touya, used by Yukito. English speakers can't hear the difference, but it's a syllable shorter.

-

Ch. 3 - Resonance

It hadn't taken much convincing for Yukito to stay the night. Attuned to the sounds of the house as Kero was, he was clearly able to hear the two teenage boys bidding Tomoyo goodbye, eating dinner, doing homework, bathing, going to bed, all while he meditated on the Cards.

And he was clearly able to hear the two NOT fetching the air mattress for guests.

_It's about time, Snowbunny_, Kero thought to himself smugly.

But the sounds of the two climbing into bed faded away without so much as a telltale squeak or rustle, and Kero sighed. _Stupid, repressed angel._

He went back to studying the new Cards, trying to at least categorize them. If he could. Yue was always so much better at this - not that Kero would ever admit that, but he sometimes needed the answers shoved in his face.

This difficulty wasn't due to a lack of intelligence or power on Kero's part. Rather the opposite, in fact. Kero's own power blazed too brightly to find any but the strongest matches with himself - rather like trying to see a candle flame in the middle of a bonfire - so in most cases, he was reduced to guessing based on the Card symbols. Unfortunately, this left Kero doubly blocked.

The first block was in the forms of Clow's creations, which were more than simply shapes. There was a _reason_ that Yue was human-shaped, and Kero was not. Clow had created Yue to master the arts of humanity, as he had created Kero to embody the more basic urges. Kero would always be best at following his instincts: choosing Cardmasters who wouldn't abuse the power (as in, those he liked and trusted right off the bat), fighting, eating, throwing tantrums, playing, sleeping, and so forth. Yue, though, would always be more skilled with human reasoning, behaviors, and other subtleties that eluded Keroberos (he'd learned repression stunningly well, for example).

As if that wasn't enough of a stumbling block, though, there was a second one in place. Symbolism required information, as well as an ability to follow, have, and interpret abstract thought. All of these were ruled by the Moon, embodied in Windy, Dream, Illusion, and other Cards.

In light of this, it was amazing that Kero was able to categorize even a single Card: The Mask. He'd only managed to do so after about an hour of finicky examination of every line in the image, to make sure there was nothing drawn there that could possibly contradict the card's name, thus placing it under Kero's command (there wasn't). But this Card was one Yue would've considered 'obvious'. The others were not. They had Kero's fire in Yue's colors, symbols that may or may not be what they seemed, names that would fit under either's rule, etc.

Kero barely managed to suppress a strained, half-hysterical tantrum (_wow, all these months of hiding from Touya paid off!_). Not that he thought there was much chance of waking Sakura, but best not to risk it. He flopped back onto the desk, depressed and starting to develop a headache, when he noticed soft sounds within the house.

One of the boys was up and about. A door creaked; the upstairs toilet flushed. Footsteps approached Sakura's door, paused, and a silvery glow pulsed under the doorframe, moon-cool magic washing out with it. The handle turned, and Yue peered into the room, face as blank as ever.

Kero waved him in, hiding his relief.

"I've been staring at these things all night," he groaned, stretching, "and I have no idea which of ours any of them really ARE." Though he had a few guesses. "Ya take a look at them."

Yue shut the door silently behind him, and crooked his fingers at the Cards. (That annoyed Kero just the tiniest bit - Yue had hands to do delicate movements like that. Kero had stubby paws and no opposable thumbs. ... Although he was able to do just as much with his back paws as his front, whereas Yue's feet were barely used even for walking, so there.) The Cards flew over and lined up before the angel, and he plucked one from the air: the second from the left, The Mask.

"This is a Moon card," Yue said instantly (_instantly! grr!_), tracing a finger gently over the face Kero couldn't see from this angle.

"That was the only one I was sure of," Kero admitted. Only the red color of the hair had been any indication that the Card might not be Yue's, and even that didn't entirely count. Red was the color of a lunar eclipse.

Yue turned the farthest right Card - The Destroy - to face Kero. "Not this one? It's yours." Kero made a face; he didn't want this Card. It had to be evil. "It is yours," Yue pressed. "Fire and most destruction are yours."

Well, it COULD'VE been Yue's. Black and purple weren't Sun colors. (Spinel Sun did NOT count.) "I guess it's too hot for ya," Kero said gracelessly. Yue sent the Card flying back to him, and Kero gestured it into the book. "So now I've got Create and Destroy." And Yue had Erase. Funny, how that worked out.

NOT.

"So what about the rest?" Kero asked, not wanting to dwell on the fact that he couldn't foist Destroy onto Yue.

Yue replaced Mask in the air, and took down Thief. He ran his hands lightly over the Card in silence for a long moment, fingertips tracing the image. "I would have to see this one activated."

Kero blinked. That wasn't what he'd expected Yue to say. "Why? Kitsune, mystic gems, scrolls... knowledge and secrets are your Cards!"

"Stone and material possessions aren't," Yue countered, "nor are beasts and wards. This Card's affinity will have to be determined by its behavior - it may be a smash-and-grab type of Thief, in which case it's yours." Kero stuck his tongue out at Yue, who ignored it to take down Sight. "Mine," he said swiftly.

That meant one Card for Kero, two for Yue, one uncertain, and one left. If they were lucky, Swift would be Kero's. The deck was going to end up unbalanced as it was, but if the last Card was Kero's, at least there would be no chance of a 4-1 inequality.

Yue took The Swift, with its dark, wild-haired little man holding a swirl of violet-black fire, and once again ghosted his fingers over it. His eyes fell closed as his hands moved. Up, down, around, curling over and under in strange patterns.

Kero bit his lip. _Another difficult one..._

"There's something..." Yue murmured.

"Something?"

"It's very similar to Dash, and with the fire symbol..." Yue trailed off.

That didn't sound good. "With the fire symbol... what? It's mine?"

"I'm not certain. He's dark-"

"Dark!" Kero leapt to his feet, wings shoving him a full foot in the air above the desk before he'd fully righted himself. "I KNEW it! They're EVIL!" Yue clamped a hand over Kero's mouth; he'd nearly shouted that last bit.

"Don't wake Touya!" he hissed, his voice a breathy, furious - for Yue - whisper.

"Mmph!" _Can't breathe! Leggo!_

Sakura shifted in her sleep, a soft sound that wasn't quite a moan escaping her as she moved.

"... Or the Mistress," Yue added, belatedly.

_Ha! Watch my restraint, as I kindly DON'T torment you for that slip... if you let me go NOW so I can BREATHE!_

Yue's hand fell, and Kero zoomed nearly to the ceiling, out of arm's reach. He gasped loudly for air, glaring at Yue.

_See? See what you did? Nearly strangled me! See? SEE?_ Yue gazed coolly back at him, and Kero mentally supplied words for the expression. _"If you wake my precious darling To-ya, you will have MUCH worse to worry about than a lack of air."_

"Don't misinterpret my words," Yue said, his voice clipped. "I said dark, not evil. Clow's own power was that of the dark, though this isn't the same." A pause. "Taken alone, most of them have an almost overwhelming strength. I would judge them to be the equals of Light and Dark," he named the two most powerful Cards in the deck "or possibly of ourselves."

Kero's heart dropped into his stomach, and he fluttered to sink weakly onto a nearby shelf. "Each?"

"Thief, Swift, and Destroy, certainly. Sight is lower-level, below the elementals... special-level, like Mirror, most likely." Yue gestured, and a single Card flew to hover between them, facing Kero. It was The Mask. "This one's odd. Very little power - it's little more than a filter."

"Whaddya mean?" Kero grumbled. Yue had picked up a bad habit of lecturing when he DID choose to speak.

A look that was Yue's version of a sigh. "This Card wasn't designed to stand alone. It's been purposely created with almost no power, probably to minimize damages and accidental blocking of the other power when this Card is active."

"Ehhhh?" ANY Card could stand alone. They could be used together, certainly, but they magnified each other when they did so. "What's the point of havin' a Card with almost no power?"

"We will have to observe that," Yue answered, with infuriating calm.

"ARRRRGH!"

-

Somewhere that wasn't exactly a physical location, as humans understand it, a muscular purple being threw open a door. "Koenma-sama! Koenma-samaaa!"

A little boy, seated behind a desk far too large for him, didn't look up from the papers he was stamping. "What?" he muttered behind his pacifier. "I'm busy."

"We've- we've lost track of them!" the being gasped.

"Lost track of who?" Stamp, stamp, stamp.

"THEM!" And the purple ogre shoved a paper - two mugshots: a long-haired, redheaded teen and a smaller man with wild black hair - under the child's nose.

"YOU _WHAT!"_

TBC

-

A/N's -

- hm, a somewhat dull explanation chapter. Oh well.

- elementals: Windy, Watery, Fiery, Earthy, Woody.


	4. Shutdown

Haven't magically been given the rights to CCS or YYH. Haven't changed the plot, though various underlying magical theories and histories are changing with every chapter. Anyways, all warnings and disclaimers still apply.

A few quick cultural notes:

the Japanese do not put thermometers in their mouths. They put them under the arm.

"Cat's tongue": the literal translation of a Japanese term for people who can't eat very hot food. (Hot as in temperature, not spice.)

"san". In Japan, polite suffixes are added to everyone's name EXCEPT your own (unless you're extremely arrogant), though sometimes you can drop the suffix if you're very close to the other person (like with your spouse, sibling, or your child) or being extremely rude. So, in English you would introduce yourself with "Mr. Smith", and be called "Mr. Smith", but in Japanese you would introduce yourself as just "Smith", and be called "Smith-san".

The cutesy, Hello-Kitty-style frog that you may have seen is "Keropi-chan".

**CHAPTER STARTS HERE**-

Ch. 4 - Shutdown

The next morning, Sakura wouldn't wake.

"C'mon, _kaijuu_," Touya muttered, gently shaking her shoulder. A useless gesture, one he'd done several times over the last ten minutes, but it gave him something to do while waiting for the thermometer to beep.

Something to do other than stare at the bottom desk drawer, where Sakura's stupid stuffed toy was hiding from him, that is. And if the toy-thing knew what was good for it, it would NOT come out until Touya rousted it from the drawer. Which, if Sakura's temperature was normal... or even if it wasn't, come to think of it...

The thermometer beeped. Touya clinically reached under the covers, into Sakura's pajama top, and removed the device from her armpit. The digital readout displayed a perfect 37 degrees Celsius: normal body temperature.

Touya looked up at the door, meeting Yukito's gaze. "She's not feverish," he said flatly. "Pulse is normal, her color's good... there's nothing wrong with her."

"But?" Yukito pressed.

In answer, Touya just cocked his head at his unconscious sister.

Yukito bit his lip. "I'll make your excuses," he offered lamely.

Touya stared at him, willing Yue to come out so they could have words. It didn't work, although Yukito flinched subtly, unconsciously, away, eyes bewildered under the worry for Sakura. "If you would, please," Touya relented, putting the thermometer in his shirt pocket. He wouldn't be going to school today.

"Do you have work afterwards?" Yukito asked. Touya nodded absently. "I could take your shift."

"No, I can go," Touya said, standing. "Dad'll be home from his dig later this afternoon."

"If you're sure..."

"I'm sure."

With one last glance at Sakura, Touya left the room, Yukito turning to follow three steps behind. Yukito ate a hasty breakfast... three, actually: Touya's, Sakura's, and the first helping of his own... while Touya packed away the rest of the food he'd intended for Yukito's usual second and third helpings. He could eat later, and Yukito was running late from the time spent trying to wake Sakura.

By the time he was done, so was Yukito, and Touya followed him to the door. He stuffed Yukito's schoolbag in his hand and a last slice of toast in his mouth while Yukito simultaneously tugged on his jacket and shoved his feet into shoes, then Touya all but pushed Yukito out the door.

"See you later, To-ya!" Yukito called back as he rushed out the gate and vanished around the corner.

Touya shut the door without the proper reply. Yukito was out of hearing by now anyway.

He kicked his shoes off and stepped back into his slippers, and dropped the thermometer off in the bathroom, washing the tip and leaving it out to dry. Then he headed upstairs, changed out of his school uniform, and stopped by Sakura's room once more.

Knocking gained him no response, so he opened the door. Sakura remained asleep in her bed, and her plush lion had mysteriously appeared on the shelf near her head. Looked like the yellow creature... whatever its name was... had forgotten that Touya knew pretty much everything. Touya closed the door once more and shook his head. No need to harrass the plushie thing yet.

He had a better idea.

SCENEBREAK-

Around noon, Touya returned upstairs. He'd checked twice since that first look, with no change in Sakura's condition. Both times, he'd clomped heavily up the stairs, hearing the faint sound of Sakura's game system snap off before he was halfway to her room. This time he'd tiptoed up, and the telltale electronic beeps and background music floated out from behind the door, overlaid by incoherent yelling and growling in a somewhat rough, high-pitched voice that definitely wasn't Sakura's.

"Lunch is ready if you want it," he called out, eliciting a horrified clatter, complete with explosions and a howl of dismay. Ha. He'd made the toy lose its video game.

Touya smirked faintly and headed downstairs, not bothering to see if the promise of food would lure the creature out. Considering the grocery bills since Sakura had acquired the thing, there was no way it would pass up a meal.

And indeed, shortly after Touya sat down, while he was pouring himself a cup of strong tea, a small yellow head poked sheepishly around the corner. Touya met its eyes for a moment, then tipped his head curtly towards the other place setting.

The toy glided across the room and landed in the clear spot Touya had left it. It tugged a napkin across its lap, spent a second admiring the food, then bowed from the waist towards Touya. "Thanks fer the food," it said clearly, though with a strong Osaka accent.

Touya didn't answer. But he did pour a cup of tea for the yellow creature before beginning to eat his lunch.

It grabbed a chopstick in each hand and attacked the meal, gobbling noisily and taking huge mouthfuls (probably the only way it could possibly eat a full, adult-sized meal in the same time it took an actual, adult human fifty times his size). "Mm... thish ish delicioush... mm, and this... and this... ahaha, yummy..." It gulped loudly and slurped up some tea. "Ow, hot!"

"Cat's-tongue," Touya muttered.

The beast rolled its eyes. "Well, what _else_ would I have?" it asked rhetorically, before diving back into its lunch once more. "Mm... good...!"

_It's almost like eating with Yuki_, Touya realized. _Just as fast, just as vocal._.._and everything's good._ A bit of rice got stuck to the creature's cheek. _Though not as clean._ Touya stifled a smile.

"What?" the little beast asked.

Apparently, he hadn't stifled it well enough. "Nothing," Touya said flatly. The toy shrugged and went back to eating. Touya ate a few more bites of his own lunch, washing it down with tea, and paused. "Hey."

"Mm?"

"What's your name?"

The toy blinked, then leapt to its back paws and stood tall. "I," it said grandly, brandishing a chopstick, "am the great and magnificent Sun Guardian of the Seal, created by Clow Reed, Keroberos!" It grinned at Touya and plopped back down. "But you can call me Kero."

Kero. Hm. Sounded like a frog. "Kero-san," Touya repeated, trying the name.

"Yup."

"Huh."

They finished the meal in silence, save for Kero's appreciative munching and a round of seconds for the little creature. Finally, though, he sat back with a happy puff of air and patted his stomach. "Mm, that was good... thanks bunches." He beamed at Touya. "I keep forgettin' I can actually have lunch when you're home without Sakura sneakin' it up, yanno?"

That was a good enough way to lead into the conversation Touya wanted to have. "About Sakura..." he began.

"Hm?"

Touya fixed a dangerous stare on Kero. "Shouldn't she be awake by now?" She _had_ passed out a couple of times before, from... whatever she was doing. Changing magical Cards so they worked off her power, too weak to do the same for Yue... but however it worked, she'd never stayed unconscious this long.

Kero frowned, crossing its arms thoughtfully and contemplating the tabletop. "Well..." it hedged, "Maybe."

_Maybe?_

"Clow scrambled my memories, and Yue's, a bit before he died," Kero continued. "Or when he died. Sometime around then. I'm not entirely sure, but it happened. However..." and Kero frowned more deeply, his round little forehead furrowing in concentration, "... I seem to recall that Clow himself had wildly different reactions to creating each Card." He paused, eyes closed in thought, then nodded to himself. "Yes. And there was never any pattern to how it happened, really." Kero snorted softly. "Like he spent a month in his sickbed raving heresies after making Create, Erase, and Twin, but only needed a coupla hours' sleep after Light and Dark." He glanced up at Touya through one eye.

"A_ MONTH?_"

"Pretty much. Dunno why. Like I said, no pattern." Kero waved one stubby paw at him placatingly. "But this was bound to happen eventually, once she started making her own Cards from scratch. As long as she isn't feverish or babbling about the importance of forty-two, I wouldn't worry. Okay?"

"... no."

SCENEBREAK-

It seemed that she drifted in an endless black void, long chains of pink petals twining thinly about. They spun in slow streams, twirling each on their own, flickering bright into glittering into gleaming to gone. And they held back the dark and the shards and the tears, ripping heat meant to stifle, and gave her some air.

"Mama... it hurts..."

No reply; the cards tumbled and spun.

SCENEBREAK-

The day wound down quickly, as weekdays tended to do, and by the time the autumn sundrew long shadows over the streets, Touya's father had arrived home and Touya was able to leave for his part-time.

Today he was scheduled at a local restuarant, a small walk-up booth that would soon close for the winter. The food wasn't that great, but the place was quick, cheap, and on one of the main roads near the train station. So, despite the darkening skies and falling temperatures, Touya was kept busy at the register until considerably after the last train from Tokyo passed through.

Among the last customers of the night... usually tired, slow-moving salarymen and secretaries, a scattering of bright-eyed college students weighed down with books... were two teenagers: rough-edged boys in unfamiliar school uniforms, who would've sparked any shopkeeper's instant suspiscion.

As the shorter boy snapped out an order for sodas and fried rice, in an accent that Touya couldn't place, the taller one stared unabashedly at Touya as if he was a potentially rabid dog. Touya ignored it, keying in the order and counting out the money the first boy tossed into the money dish very carefully. The notes _looked_ like real yen... he began counting out the change.

"Hey," the first boy began. Touya glanced up, to see the boy's hand disappear into his shirt pocket.

The other boy grabbed the first's arm. "Wait, man," he blurted, getting a confused, challenging stare.

Touya waited, hand curled around the counter, finger poised over the button that would activate the security alarm... but no, he could see the edge of a piece of glossy paper just peeking out of the pocket. Nothing else.

"Just... trust me, man, okay?" The taller boy's eyes flicked nervously from his friend to Touya and back several times.

"... fine." The paper vanished, tucked securely into the bottom of the pocket once more. The first boy grabbed his change, the food, and they walked off into the night.

Touya stared after them for a long moment. _Weird..._

SCENEBREAK-

Somewhere deep in the last building this side of reality, a phone rang.

And rang.

And rang.

Koenma stumbled out of the bathroom attached to his office, clutching his trousers closed as he ran to his desk. Hopping into his chair, nearly losing his grip on the fabric, he fumbled at the reciever, accidentally hitting the button for the speakerphone.

"_It's about time you picked up, you pint-sized excuse for a god! What sort of shit-ass operation are you running? I'm sick of being dumped into the middle of the biggest wrecks you guys can't ignore anymore! I signed on to look for my friends, not clean up your mess!_"

"Yuusuke! What...? Slow down, I have no idea what you're talking about!" Koenma blurted the instant Yuusuke paused to take a breath.

"_NO IDEA? NO IDEA? We didn't take ten steps into this town before Kuwabara was having fits of the screaming meemies, and I for one don't blame him! HOW COULD YOU MISS THIS?"_

"Miss WHAT?" Koenma asked, taking a second to button his pants.

_"Oh, nothing,"_ Yuusuke snapped. "_Just the biggest, most powerful psychic vampire I've ever frikkin' HEARD of."_

Koenma nearly fell out of his chair with a squawk.

_"Or somethin' close to it. And it's been here over six months,_" Yuusuke finished. _"SIX MONTHS. Really gonna tell me you had NO clue?"_

"I..." Koenma squeaked. Clenching his fists, he pulled a remote from his desk drawer, turned on his monitor, and began entering commands. "I'm on it, but I swear, I haven't heard a thing. I think the reports said that sector's been quiet for years."

Silence for a long moment. _"... then either they're the wrong reports, or somebody's been snowing you guys."_

Which, Koenma knew, made the situation that much worse. Was it just in Tomoeda, or was it a widespread problem? How much was being missed by Reikai surveillance? He entered more commands into the remote, isolating the sector in the monitor. "Just how strong a demon are we reporting?" he asked warily.

A bit of muffled noise crackled through the speaker, then Yuusuke came back on. _"Kuwabara says at least powerful enough to take all his power in one gulp. That's about the capacity of the victim we saw."_

At least. At _least._ Though Kuwabara was no A-class demon, he was still remarkably powerful... even ignoring the psychological strength he gained from his complete inability to accept defeat. If this thing could take all of Kuwabara's power in one gulp... and it had already done so to one person, and had been running amok for six months since then...

Snap decision. Koenma grabbed his stamp from the desk and pushed it into a slot on the back of the remote. A click, and the remote's top flipped up, revealing a grid of arcanely-marked buttons. "I'm shutting the sector down."

"_You're what!_"

There was only one way to divert Yuusuke's attention and keep him working the mission, rather than blowing his way out of containment, and luckily it was with the truth. "Yuusuke, if Kurama and Hiei encountered something that drains magic... there's a chance... a very small chance... there might be nothing left." Except, in a worst-case scenario, a half-empty shell of flesh left of Minamino Shuiichi.

Static crackled through the line.

Koenma hit one more button, and the arcane writing lit up bright red, outlining a new button. "Contact me when you've eliminated the threat."

"_What? Hey! Wait!"_

"Brace yourselves."

"_Koenma!"_

He hit the button.

TBC

A/N's -

Don't worry, you are supposed to be confused by that scene. You know which one I'm talking about.


	5. Sealed With

Warnings, disclaimers, etc.

A/N's -

- Oh my god, the story's alive. I think it's been like a year or so... You might want to reread the earlier chapters.

- looks like I'm going to freely mix the CCS anime and manga continuities, but I'm not sure anyone will notice yet.

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-CHAPTER STARTS HERE-

Ch. 5 - Sealed With

Silence.

A grid of arcane symbols, strange patterns in no order that could be read, save by Enma and his son, glowed softly on Koenma's monitor. A single, tiny glyph in the pattern blinked red-white.

The phone handset

_red-white_

clattered back in place,

_red-white_

not even a dial tone left to fill the room.

_red-white_

_red-white_

_red_

This time the sigil didn't flicker back. Koenma sat back in his chair, staring at the little red light. Tomoeda sector lay cut off from the rest of the Three Worlds, under a powerful Reikai barrier. Several thousand humans, one self-proclaimed Reikai Detective, one S-class prince of Hell... and one vampiric demon, gorged on at least one B-class human, and most likely two A-class demons, as well. Kurama and Hiei weren't likely to be alive by now.

Yuusuke and Kuwabara were on their own. If the earthquake accompanying the barrier didn't bring their hotel down on their heads, that is.

And as if that wasn't bad enough...

"I'm going to have to do all the PAPERWORK!" Koenma wailed.

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Kero jolted wide awake in his drawer, with the all-too-familiar sensation that something inside his small body was twisting against itself. Hissing, he leapt for the front of the drawer, flying free and already halfway through his transformation as the room jolted.

The clock over Sakura's head slid from the shelf, but her bed was bolted in place.

"SAKURA!" Keroberos (now full-sized) yelled, lion's paws outstretched. A single claw clacked against the plastic of the clock, under it, Kero's paw twisting to knock it aside. The clock shattered against the wall.

But at least it hadn't hit Sakura.

The room shuddered again.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

In the bathroom doorway of their hotel room, Kuwabara shoved Yuusuke to a better-braced position against the jamb. "What did you say to him?" he yelled, against the instinct to hunker down and stay silent (or run screaming like a little girl, but he hadn't done that in _years_).

"You heard me!" Yuusuke shouted back. "I didn't say nothin'!"

"You must've said something! An earthquake isn't 'nothing'!"

"It ain't what I said, it's what you said! He's doing this 'coz of the goddamn vampire-thing that proba--" A second jolt knocked the cheap painting crashing down on a lamp, drowning out the rest of Yuusuke's shout. But that was just as well. Yuusuke didn't want to hear his own voice repeat that his... their... friends were probably worse than dead.

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He'd flung himself out of bed, Yukito's form, and the window at the initial snap, already ten meters in the air before he'd become fully coherent (both magically and mentally) and for a long moment, had been completely bewildered. Then the air had shivered again, piercing somewhere deep in the core of his existance, and a crack split the street below him lengthwise.

Earthquake. But Yue hadn't been designed to feel earthquakes on more than a human level. Earth was Kerobero's element, not his. What was going _on_...?

Later. He'd figure it out later, after he'd satisfied his primary imperative (one could hardly call it an 'instinct') to protect his Mistress. To make sure Keroberos could do so. To make sure the Mistress and the Cards and his fellow Guardian and To... that they were were all right. Then... then he could figure out why the very air felt raw in his heart.

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Upon being jolted out of a sound sleep, Tomoyo instinctively grabbed the cellphone on her nightstand. Long months of late night 'adventures' had drilled, beaten, and otherwise impressed on her the importance of quick communication. Whatever was happening, Sakura was probably involved anyway.

She had just enough time to notice there was no dial tone before one of the night guards burst into her room, scooped her up (bedclothes and all), and pulled her into the doorway to wait out aftershocks.

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Usually, the city at night was a gold-toned mirror of the sky, though the streetlamps' beads of light looked clumsier and gaudier than the stars by far. But tonight, Yue flew over a broken reflection; the lights were out in great gaping blocks, and sputtered fitfully in between. Fortunately, Yue didn't need the lights outlining roads, or any landmarks, to navigate. He was following the faint, warm ember of Sakura's power to his destination.

And it was far below, in another of the darkened patches. Yue folded his wings and dove, winging straight for the little house. The slanted windows in the roof had shattered, was the first thing he noticed. The next, as he floated over to Sakura's window, was the flash of pale movement -- Yue's own reflection -- in cat eyes.

"Go check on Touya and Fujitaka," Keroberos hissed, wings spread protectively over the Mistress, claws flexing rhythmically, nervously into the mattress. "They ain't shown up yet!"

Yue froze, that single sentence cutting through his naturally-exclusive focus on Sakura.

Hadn't... Touya hadn't... with _his_ sister complex? And Sakura's father?

Yue's wide gaze flicked towards the other broken window on his right. He soared to it, willing his wings away to crouch on the sill. Touya's room was empty, the bed in disarray, and the door to the hall open. Yue (_couldn't let himself leap into the room; it would do Touya no good if he sliced his throat open on the glass)_ eased carefully through, peering about for a looming teenage boy. Somewhere. Anywhere.

"To-ya?" he called softly, just in case.

No answer.

Broken glass crunched underfoot, the room too small for Yue to restore his wings and float, as he stepped to the door. He ignored the sting with almost-forgotten skill, gleaned from fights to protect the Cards, and called up a small, glowing ball of power. "Touya...?"

A shadow moved in the hallway; Touya's father, Kinomoto Fujitaka, crouched next to something, clutching it closer as he spun to face Yue. "Who are you?" he demanded, squinting against Yue's globe of light.

Yue flinched, snuffing out the light instinctively. He wasn't... Touya's father wasn't supposed to... but of course he'd be there, Yukito had known he was coming back that afternoon... but Touya's father wasn't supposed to ever see Yue or Kero!

"Show yourself, please," Fujitaka said, a slight edge to his tone. Yue recognized it all too easily; Clow had taken the same tone occasionally about the Cards. There was little that was more dangerous than a loving parent protecting his children. Even if Clow had been a manipulative little... well.

Carefully, Yue schooled his face to impassivity, then opened his clenched fist (when had that happened?) and slowly called up the light again.

Fujitaka's eyes widened a fraction, wariness draining from his face. Before Yue had a chance to wonder over that (people generally didn't relax upon finding a stranger in their house, much less an almost unmistakeably non-human one), the man twisted, bringing his burden fully into the light.

"To-ya..." Yue breathed. He went to his knees next to Touya's father, reaching out to the unconscious teenager. A cut on his forehead trickled blood; Yue barely noticed the red-soaked cloth in Fujitaka's hand, using his own trailing sash to press to the wound instead.

"It looks worse than it really is," Fujitaka murmured, though it sounded like he was trying to remind himself more than assure Yue. He carefully passed Touya into Yue's arms. "I'm going to check on my daughter," he added, standing.

Yue's gaze flew up to meet the man's eyes. "She's..." being guarded by a magical winged lion twice her size, "... safe." Fujitaka had seemed to instantly trust Yue (and why was that?), but somehow Yue didn't think he'd take so kindly to Keroberos.

Touya's father stood, half-bent to aim a silencing finger towards Yue. "Yes, but we should head downstairs. It's not safe up here." Yue's arm instinctively tightened a fraction around Touya, his fingers clenching on his sash at the reminder. Not safe. The Mistress was in danger, the Cards, Kero... Touya... Fujitaka, who had his hand on the knob and the door open and was halfway into the room without any reaction.

But the Sun Guardian should've been in full form, to protect Sakura...

Soft rustles came from the room, a reassuring murmur that the Mistress shouldn't need unless she was starting to wake...? But no, there wasn't so much as a whimper of sleepy protest among the rustling of cloth.

A moment later, Fujitaka stepped gingerly back into the hallway, manuvering Sakura (still asleep, and wrapped in blankets) carefully around the door jamb.

A small plushie lay flopped in the crook of her arms: Kero, playing 'toy'. His beady eyes narrowed when they fell on Yue, fake 'I'm a plushie!' smile weakening. Yue knew Kero well enough to interpret the expression properly: 'you messed up', with hints of 'we are SO going to talk later' and 'I'm never going to let you live this down'.

Yue ignored it, turning his attention to the problem of lifting Touya without moving his sash from the wound. Finally, he slipped the trailing end off his shoulder, let it pool in Touya's lap, and used Touya's limp hand to hold the cloth in place. Then he managed to get both arms under the teenager, lifted, and was instantly glad Clow had planned for Yue to need magically-enhanced strength.

Throughout all this, Fujitaka had watched with unconcealed, mild worry on his face. As Yue stood, though, he turned and made his way down the stairs. Yue quickly sent the small globe of light ahead and followed.

A cool breeze tugged at the curtains of the living room, the sliding glass doors cracked and the bay window broken. The glass here, fortunately, lay behind the sofas, so Yue only had to brush plaster dust away before laying Touya down. Behind him, he heard Fujitaka settle Sakura onto the smaller couch.

"I'm going to get the radio," Fujitaka murmured. Yue looked over his shoulder, watching the man brush Sakura's hair back from her face before straightening. Then Fujitaka glanced at him. "Can you...?" he trailed off, pointing up at the light.

Yue made another. "Follow," he told it softly, tapping it towards Touya's father. It darted off to hover over the man's head.

Fujitaka's eyes widened under the increased light, but he only paused, eyeing Yue and Touya. "And the first aid kit," he added, before leaving the room.

The instant the man's faint shadow vanished, Kero darted up and into Yue's face. "What was that!" he hissed, barely keeping his voice to a whisper. "What... he saw you! Sakura's dad _saw you_!"

How very astute of him. Yue waited, face as irritatingly blank as he could make it.

"How could you let yourself be seen! You were supposed to turn back into Yukito!"

Who would have absolutely no idea why he was in Touya's bedroom, where Touya was, or why the glass was broken. Yukito was for after the crisis was over.

"You... you... say something, dammit!"

Yue twitched the faintest hint of a smirk, something that had always been guaranteed to make Keroberos throw a fit (hadn't it? He was pretty sure he remembered that...), but a soft footfall sent Kero flitting back to flop on Sakura's stomach and play toy. Yue's face smoothed and his gaze fell as Fujitaka re-entered the room. He eased back a bit, giving the man room to work on Touya. So it came as a complete shock when Fujitaka's hand closed about his ankle.

The man ignored Yue's wide-eyed stare, gently picking glass from the sole of Yue's foot before wrapping a length of sterile gauze around it. He set the foot down, and reached for the other, warm fingers pressing Yue to twist his foot for better access.

Yue found his voice. "Why are you doing this?"  
Fujitaka barely paused. "I wonder."

There really was nothing to say to that, so Yue didn't. After another moment, Fujitaka taped off the gauze on Yue's other foot. He handed Yue the radio in an unmistakeable gesture, and the Moon Guardian shifted to the far end of the couch. As Fujitaka worked on Touya's cut, Yue searched for a working radio station. For the time being, static filled the silence between them.

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TBC

A/N's -

- delay because I had to figure out how to write confusion and chaos of the earthquake-at-2-am variety when I live thousands of miles from earthquake country. Plus I had severe writer's block, plus other stories...

- this is after the end of the YYH series. Yuusuke's in Tomoeda playing detective because, hey, would YOU refuse to let the guy go looking for his missing friends? I didn't think so.


End file.
